New Year's Eve day

It's definitely the last hurrah, trumpeting the end of a glorious two weeks of birthdays, holidays, getaways. New Year's Eve: morning with one young family, in Sister Bay, evening with the other, at the farmhouse and with Ed. New Year's Eve -- Snowdrop claims it's her favorite holiday. Why, I would ask. She likes staying up that much? Possibly triumphantly lasting the evening even as her brothers doze off, and maybe even her parents doze off. And this morning, I hear Primrose cajoling her mom and dad -- can't we stay up and watch the cherry drop? Please? Being just four years old, I don't think there is much hope that she'll get her parents to go along.

Why do kids love to stay up past their bedtime?? 

Breakfast: I pick up coffees for us older guys at the reliably open, even on this early winter morning, Skip Stone --

... and bring them to the little apartment where the young family is staying. (They'll be here an extra night. I'm cutting out because, well, there's Ed...) Cherry and blueberry scones are baking in the oven. We have quite the fine morning meal together.

(is it time for breakfast?)

(with cherry yogurt...)

 

(yogurt? yum!)

A quick game of Guess Who with Primrose, a short play moment with Juniper...

... and I am off. See you next year, my sweet ones!

I take the longer road, past the villages of Door County that are so well populated in the summer, but so full of serenity right now.

Ephriam, looking out over the bay...

Fish Creek, looking in from the docks...

And the somewhat different Egg Harbor. It's my least favorite because the shore line is dotted with private homes. You have to drive along a narrow road quite a ways before you can look out at Green Bay.

I pass through cedar forests and cherry groves...

And then I'm over the bridge that separates the pinkie from the rest of the state...

... with my nose pointed to home. And I have to admit it -- I listen to my Christmas playlist the whole 3.5 hour long drive. It just brings up in my mind the last two weeks and the images are so sweet, so darn precious, that I don't notice the time at all. It feels like I'm home in a flash.

I do a quick clean up (Ed, alone, for three days = clean up needed), make myself a strong cup of coffee, slice off a piece of the delicious maple cinnamon raisin sourdough I bought yesterday at the Waseda  farm...

... and then I turn my attention toward cooking a New Year's Eve meal for the young family here. This is when I do a seafood pasta with a white wine sauce. The seafoods are special (shrimp, scallops, a few small lobster tails), the presentation, too, is important.

They come with hats and horns!

And now we are almost back to our routines, except that this is the one day of the year where I do pop a champagne cork (at other times I stick with Prosecco). 

(We get a call from the owners of the wandering black cat. Ed locates them on a map. Snowdrop helps.)

Dinner:

("take another one of me!")

Dessert.

And then they leave to finish New Year's Eve at home, possibly with a sleeping everyone except for Snowdrop. Here, at the farmhouse, Ed and I do what we do every day -- watch a movie, nibble on popcorn, eat a chocolate or two. Do we stay up til midnight? That's an unknown! I'll post this before the clock strikes the hour. Wishing you lots of upbeat moments and happy days with those closest to you in the New Year!

And so much love...

a Door day

We have a date: meet up at Al Johnson's at 7:55!

If you know Door County, you'll have heard of Al Johnson's. The restaurant with the (summertime) goats on the roof and the menu with lots of Swedish choices. In the morning, for example, you can have your Swedish pancakes with lingonberries or Swedish meatballs. 

Al Johnson's has expanded since I've been coming to Door County. Beyond the restaurant, it now houses two large gift shops with all things Scandinavian. But the draw is still the breakfast (served until late afternoon). The place gets crowded even now, when ostensibly there are no crowds in Door County. So we strategically come five minutes before an early hour...

And a table is ours! 

(Yep, Swedish pancakes and lingonberries...)

(... and Swedish meatballs!)

And yes, we detour later to the gift shop and yes, Primrose looks great in a Santa Lucia head wreath, 25% off after the season! 

Here we are then, after the season, in Door County. The younger family and me.

At this point, they know Door County better than I do. Oh, I can find my way around here alright. County Q, County F, Highway 42 and Highway 57 -- all so familiar to me! But still, there's much that I haven't seen or tasted here. 2008 (my last visit here) is a long time ago. So I let them take the lead.

Our first destination is a place I actually do not remember ever visiting: Cave Point County Park, on the Lake Michigan side of the peninsula. I'm thinking -- is that coastline at all dramatic? Pausing along the way, it seems rather gentle...

But go a little further and it isn't gentle at all. Limestone cliff formations create caves and ledges and at this time of the year, icy surfaces are both dramatic to witness and dangerous to walk on. 

But, we are a cautious bunch. Juniper is strapped onto my daughter and Primrose holds on to her dad's hand tightly.

As the water crashes in successive waves, I have to marvel at how the lake changes faces so quickly here. From mellow to bold and thunderous. 

We follow a trail through the cedar forest, taking in the scent of the trees that are so common here.

A very special park within a park (Cave Point County Park is within the Whitefish Dunes State Park). 

All that waterfront drama and the cold air make us hungry. We drive over to Waseda Farms, where Juniper is thrilled to look at the goats (as they look at her) and the rest of us pick and choose items from the store that the farmers maintain there.

One more stop! -- at Sip Coffee Shop to pick up some coffee and take-out soups for lunch.

And now we are home.

Did I say home? Well no, not really home, but a place you return to often is like a second home. This is the pleasure of repeat visits: you feel your roots boring down into the local soil, or in the case of Door County -- into the bedrock. Nearly half of the county has a soil depth of less than three feet. After that you're hitting Dolomite rock.

In any case, we return to the apartment rental, where Juniper right away sets herself the task of loading up a cookie tray and balancing it in her hand as she takes her still tentative steps.

Primrose returns to playing "coffee shop." 

Hey, coffee and cakes go well together, no??

Naps, books --- all that is fitted into a brief afternoon.

(trying on Santa Lucia's crown...)

And soon it is dinnertime. Pizza, from the local place. Delicious! And no, it's not just the fresh air effect!

We still have a bit of time before the kids need to get to bed, so we take a walk -- to see the cherry, suspended until tomorrow night when rumor has it it will drop down at the stroke of midnight!

And to admire the lights in the lakeshore park.

Home again: is it time to play some more??

No, sweet Juniper. You'll have to save up all that energy for tomorrow, the last day of 2022. It's bedtime for you, for your sister, and frankly -- for the grownups too. Door County walks do that to you -- you return with heavy eyelids. Me -- also a somewhat heavy heart as I'll be leaving tomorrow morning. I want to get back for New Year's Eve to the farmhouse, to Ed, to all that I left there in order to be here.

Oh, but it's been a grand getaway with the young guys! Maybe short, but so intensely wonderful to go through the vacation routines with all of them.

But really, no more reflecting on the great luck that brought me to this point. I need to get some sleep if I am to hope for a late night at home tomorrow.

Goodnight little ones, here, and back home. 

With so much love...

Door County getaway

Sister Bay -- named after the Sister Islands that flank the bay, it was first settled by Indian tribes and much later by Swedish immigrants who came here because, well, it looked like Sweden to them. It does have a Scandinavian topography. All those birches and pines!  I came to this town because this is where my daughter stays with her family, but in fact you could argue that it's the nicest of the Door County villages if you like serenity and, too, a good cup of coffee in the morning! Because it's further north up the peninsula, it hasn't the crowds of, say, Fish Creek or Egg Harbor in the summer. Of course, right now, Door County is quite without the crowds everywhere. Reason enough to come here now!

View from my window onto the "Main Street" and the Bay beyond.

They have what they call a grab and go breakfast at my hotel and I do grab a yogurt, over in this beautiful hotel lounge...

But for coffee I go elsewhere -- to the Skip Stone Coffee Roasters, where they also have yummy granola muffins. 

(I feel like my old mittens, with their Scandinavian motif, really belong here.)

(Upstairs, there are a few extra tables. An older coffee drinker sits at one and reads her book. I'm thinking this so often is me when I travel solo!)

I take a brief walk, to take in the winter views. Last week's storm really blew in a lot of water which then immediately froze over anything in sight. The marina looks quite dramatic as a result.

I get in the car and drive further north. After Sister Bay, the landscape changes. Fewer houses. Young forests and cherry orchards are common. 

I take a short detour to Ellison Bay Bluff (looking out over the Bay). It's a state natural area -- plenty of birches!

And a lookout point that shows off the cliffs along the coastline here.

And then I continue, all the way to Newport State Park, which is near the northern tip of the peninsula. This is my favorite forested area in Door County. I used to bring the girls swimming here because a curve in the shore creates a protected bay which is shallow for quite a distance. A gentle slope from the forest line has golden sands perfect for kid play. And in those days it was never crowded. 

I park the car right by Newport Bay. 

Some 150 years ago Scandinavian families came here for the timber. This used to be a bustling place: the trees were felled and loaded onto ships going to Milwaukee or Chicago. And soon the forests were depleted and the settlers looked for other sources of income. 

(Newport Bay)

The woodland here is, therefore, fairly new, but at the same time, it has some saplings that are direct descendants from an ancient forest (lycopods, growing here for some 400 million years now). There are plenty of trails through the woods. I just have to decide -- which will it be, skiing or hiking? The snow conditions are rapidly getting worse -- we are in the middle of a heat wave! 40F (4C)! I mean, overall nice, I suppose, but the base of snow isn't strong enough to be supported by those kinds of temperatures. Still, I test a portion of the trail and is seems good! I take out my skis.

And I do a grand loop, skiing all the way to Europe Bay and back again. And it is quiet. And beautiful!

There are just a couple of rough patches where my ski catches on something and I tumble into what feels like a chilled soupy mix of water and ice. The trick it to get up quickly, which, at my age is a challenge! Still, by the time I'm done skiing I have begun to dry out. 

As I tell Ed later, it is so good to ski a new trail every now and then. We love our county park back home and all that it offers, but to take in a new forest is magical. And the pines and northern cedars are so fragrant! The trail here doesn't pose any hilly challenges and that is a good thing. You can concentrate on the beauty of the forest rather than on the sport that allows you to glide silently between the trees.

Afterwards, I'm hungry enough for a real lunch. For this I drive "south" to Fish Creek. I hear the Hill Street Bar sells good stuff. Since it's a tiny bit too crowded for my Covid sensibilities, I pick up a "Charlie Brown" hoagie, so named because it has charred broccoli, pickled onions and peanuts.  From here, I go to the Blue Horse Cafe and get a coffee to go. My gathered lunch treasures taste great by the fire back in my hotel.

And soon after, my younger girl arrives with her family. They stop by the hotel...

... then proceed to their rental, which is just across the street from me. (They stay in a place with a kitchen, for obvious reasons.) I join them there for the rest of the day.

(moving around behind this light stroller is a challenge, but Juniper is up for it!)

( a dancing Primrose)

I eat dinner with the girls. Pasta, to keep it simple. The parents will go out for dinner -- I'll keep an eye on the kids.

(and now, taking orders from customers at her "cafe")

(while Juniper reads a book that I swear every grandchild before her has loved to pieces...)

There is a fireplace in the little apartment and I keep it on for the evening. It seems so fitting for an escape up north! I live in a beautiful state, that's for sure. The Door peninsula certainly hasn't the vast wilderness of the northern most counties, but it has its share of wildlife (both black bears and wolves have crossed over Sturgeon Bay and have been sighted here). And the landscape is just so pretty! Tourism is a big deal, but like in the Cape Cod of my memories, the governing bodies have reined in growth, so that in fact, since I've been here last (in February 2008, with Ed), not that much has changed. A few good eateries have been added, my Sister Bay hotel is certainly a new kid on the block, but otherwise, the main road slicing through the village looks like it did decades ago. 

I'm watching the flames of the fire and I'm thinking -- oh but it's great to be here now!

With love...